Jefferson Wagner goes on the record in support of a septic ban.
By Olivia Damavandi / Assistant Editor
As the Malibu City Council prepares to discuss options, one of which includes a possible lawsuit, of how to deal with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s recent ban of septic systems throughout central and eastern Malibu, Mayor Pro Tem Jefferson Wagner has publicly stated his support of the ban.
The State Water Resources Control Board and the Office of Administrative Law must still approve the septic ban before it can be enacted. The city says it will not sue until a final decision is made. It is estimated that the state board will hold a hearing to vote on the matter within the next two to six months.
Wagner, in a Nov. 15 story published in The Los Angeles Times, called Malibu residents opposed to the ban “a bunch of hypocrites,” saying that they can afford to help finance an estimated $52 million centralized wastewater treatment facility but are too stingy to do so. Numerous residents say they could not afford the estimated $500 monthly cost of implementing a centralized wastewater facility, and resented the perception that all who live in Malibu are wealthy.
Many question whether Wagner would still support the ban, and the hefty costs associated with the implementation of the wastewater facility, if his residence or business (Zuma Jay’s Surf Shop) were located within the septic prohibition zone (Councilmember Andy Stern on Tuesday said Wagner does not live within city limits. Calls to Wagner made Tuesday were not returned). The same criticism has been made about Malibu residents and septic ban supporters Madelyn Glickfeld, vice chair of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, and Sarah Abramson Sikich, coastal resource director of Heal the Bay, neither of whom live within the prohibition zone.
The water board’s staff recommended the ban due to its assessment that septic systems are the major cause of pollution in Malibu’s watershed. The decision has aggravated many Malibu citizens and city officials, who say the board’s staff report was based on outdated evidence from the 1980s and ’90s.
The prohibition approved by the regional board includes an end to future permitting of septic systems in the commercial areas of the Civic Center and the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway from Serra Road to Sweetwater Canyon, as well as the residential areas of Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Serra Retreat, Sweetwater Mesa and the Malibu Knolls. Current septic systems in commercial areas must be phased out by 2015, and those in residential areas by 2019. Projects that are already underway or in the permitting process will be allowed to install septic systems, but must also meet those deadlines. The regional board could issue fines of up to $10,000 per day or $100 per gallon of wastewater discharged to those who do not comply.
With the regional board’s plan, the city projects that 425 residential parcels would have to pay between $400 and $500 per month, and 45 business parcels would have to pay between $6,800 and $17,000 per month to help finance an estimated $52 million centralized wastewater treatment facility capable of treating 600,000 gallons per day.
The regional board at the hearing ignored testimony from scientific experts who recently conducted water quality tests that indicated human waste as a small percentage of the overall pollution in the Malibu watershed. Malibu officials submitted those test results to the regional board prior to the hearing, but Jeff Ogata, staff counsel for the regional board, said the results would not be included as evidence at the hearing because they were submitted after the Oct. 8 deadline for public comments on the staff report. In addition, the city says four other new studies on ocean water quality and bacteria levels are expected to be completed in the next six to nine months.
City officials say the board’s prohibition plan is technically unfeasible, in part because the available percolation area may not be sufficient to disperse the large quantity of treated wastewater. They expressed disappointment at the board’s rejection of an alternate plan they proposed just days before the hearing, which was supported by Heal the Bay Executive Director Mark Gold.
Under the city’s proposed plan, a smaller $30.8 million centralized wastewater treatment facility would be constructed in phases by 2018, and would serve the central core of the Civic Center area, including parcels that contribute to Malibu Creek groundwater. In addition, Malibu Colony homes and two commercial zones along the east side of Malibu Creek and adjacent to Pacific Coast Highway would be required by city ordinance to install disinfection treatments to their existing septic systems.
“If this goes to court, it will be a horrible waste of resources and time,” Malibu Mayor Sharon Barovsky said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “The amount of time it will take to solve this in court could be used to build a wastewater facility and clean up the pollution. We’ve got to do it based on science, not faith. I hope the state board will review the facts, just as Mark Gold at Heal the Bay did, and come to the conclusion that our plan is feasible and based on science.”